The built in XP backup utility no one ever knew about...forget Norton Ghost!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx

I'm checking this out now...but the good news that that XP and Vista have this feature.

 

Yeah, we use this alot at work, along with Remote Desktop, it's really the only reason I have XP Pro.

 

I've also used this feature before, and I'm quite thankful for it, otherwise my hundreds of reinstalls would have taken even longer!

 

Which I would have heard of it before Norton Ghost decided to give me at error just at the end of a restore operation...TWICE!!!

 

Funny you should mention that Night, it was only after my failure as well with Norton Ghost that I started searching for an alternate method

 

ummm...guys that has been there since Win95. And I think there was a backup util included in Win3.11 too...but that was so long ago I can't recall.

 

ooohhhh, I see they added the old NT backup util and you can even backup all the user data...now that is a niiiice update to the old Windows Backup...thanks!

 

I've seen it but folowing recommendations from these forums I used Acronis on my zv6000.
Can you create a bootable file? I mean, can you create an image of the hard drive and "pour it out" when needed?

 

Thank you for that information. Very useful.

 

I think so...at least what I've read points to that. I'll know for sure in a week or two, because I'm going to test it just before I install Vista.

 

I looked at, but the Interface looked so perplexing I thought Id do it myself, by copying my files over to an External HDD overnight...

 

Apart from setting up schedules, what difference is there to doing it yourself and just copying to a external HD or burning to disc through the *normal* means?

 

You have the ability to restore installations of XP w/Programs. Think of it as a System Restore that actually works.

 

I tried this last night. I'm not sure if I missed a setting or not, but it didn't go exactly as expected. I tried to backup my laptop (Asus A8JP) to an external USB HDD (Western Digital) and at the end, it wanted me to create a bootdisk. I'm assuming it was looking for a 3.5" floppy drive in A:, but I couldn't find the option to create a boot disk somewhere else.

So the backup is on the HDD, but I have no idea on what to do for a boot disk.

 

I've always found the File and Settings transfer wizard makes a very easy and convenient way to backup everything. It's especially useful for OS reinstalls.

 

I use Acronis and it's just much easier. I wish Vista or XP has something as cool as TimeMachine

 

Yep, I knew about this.

Very true.

Matt

 

im a bit confused.. so can u create recovery disks using this method??

 

Yup, that is good stuff. I read about that when I was looking to backup my desktop since it is in RAID 0 atm.